Outfielder, Chicago
Orphans
Age: 27 (June 26)
1st season
with Orphans
Bats – Left,
Throws – Left
Height: 5’5” Weight: 155
Prior to 1901:
An Ohio native,
Tully Frederick Hartsel played football and baseball in school but turned down
a chance to play football collegiately to instead play semipro baseball. Short
and stocky, he was originally a middle infielder, but he was shifted to the
outfield, due to his being left-handed, when he joined the Burlington Colts of
the Class B Western Association in 1897. He appeared in 20 games and batted
.282. He started the 1898 season with the Montgomery Senators of the Southern
League but moved to Salem of the Ohio State League after the Southern League
folded. That circuit also went out of business and Hartsel moved on again to
Grand Rapids of the Inter-State League. There he hit .332 with 20 doubles, 11
triples, 107 runs scored, and 34 stolen bases in 101 games. He finished the
year with the Louisville Colonels of the National League where he hit .324 with
a .422 on-base percentage. He started the 1899 season with Louisville but was
sold to Indianapolis of the Western League in June where he received the ironic
and enduring nickname “Topsy” because of his fair-skinned, white-haired
appearance, since the character Topsy in the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was
black and a sportswriter remarked that Hartsel was “as light as Topsy is black”,
which was considered very amusing at the time. The nickname stuck but Hartsel
typically went by Fred in his everyday life. Hartsel remained with Indianapolis
in 1900, on the eve of the Western League going major as the American League.
He batted .301 with 86 runs scored, 11 doubles, 13 triples, 5 home runs, and 31
stolen bases. A dispute broke out between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago
Orphans over which one had purchased Hartsel’s contract from Indianapolis.
Hartsel played 19 games with the Reds and hit .328, but the Orphans succeeded
in obtaining him for 1901, where he proceeded to have a breakout season as a
major league player.
1901 Season Summary
Appeared in 140
games
LF – 131, RF –
9
[Bracketed
numbers indicate NL rank in Top 20]
Batting
Plate Appearances
– 636 [3]
At Bats – 558 [6,
tied with Ginger Beaumont]
Runs – 111 [7]
Hits – 187 [6]
Doubles – 25
[11, tied with Charlie Irwin]
Triples – 16 [3,
tied with Ed Delahanty, Kitty Bransfield & Sam Crawford]
Home Runs – 7 [7,
tied with George Davis]
RBI – 54
Bases on Balls
– 74 [2]
Int. BB – N/A
Strikeouts – 48
Stolen Bases – 41
[2]
Caught Stealing
– N/A
Average - .335
[7, tied with George Van Haltren]
OBP - .414 [5]
Slugging Pct. -
.475 [7]
Total Bases – 265
[7]
GDP – N/A
Hit by Pitches
– 1
Sac Hits – 3
Sac Flies – N/A
Midseason
snapshot: 2B – 15, 3B – 10, HR- 4, RBI- 36, SB - 30, AVG - .338., OBP - .416,
SLG – .489
---
Most hits, game
– 4 (in 5 AB) vs. NY Giants 6/13, (in 5 AB) at Cincinnati 8/21
Longest hitting
streak – 12 games
Most HR, game –
2 (in 5 AB) at Cincinnati 8/5
HR at home – 3
HR on road – 4
Multi-HR games
– 1
Most RBIs, game
– 4 vs. NY Giants 6/13, at Cincinnati 8/21
Pinch-hitting – No appearances
Fielding
Chances – 304
Put Outs – 273
Assists – 16
Errors – 15
DP – 3
Pct. – .951
---
The Orphans
went 53-86 to finish sixth in the NL, 37 games behind the pennant-winning
Pittsburgh Pirates while leading the league in stolen bases (204) and fewest
home runs (18). The Orphans were in the NL cellar at 19-40 by the end of June
but played .500 ball in July and August and managed to make it up to sixth by
season’s end. Hartsel’s lone multi-home run game consisted of two
inside-the-park homers.
Aftermath of 1901:
Hartsel jumped to the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League in 1902. Installed in the leadoff spot, he excelled thanks to his speed and excellent batting eye, leading the circuit in runs scored (109), stolen bases (47), and walks drawn (87) while batting .283 with 20 doubles, 12 triples, 5 home runs, 58 RBIs, and a .383 OBP for the pennant-winning A’s. Limited to 98 games in 1903 due to injuries, he remained productive, hitting .311 with 19 doubles, 14 triples, 5 home runs, 26 RBIs, 13 stolen bases, a .391 OBP, and a .477 slugging percentage. Fully recovered in 1904, Hartsel’s average dropped to .253 although his OBP was a healthy .347 thanks to his drawing 75 walks. The A’s returned to the top of the AL in 1905 and the diminutive Hartsel led the league in walks drawn (121) and OBP (.409) while hitting .275 with 22 doubles, 8 triples, and 37 stolen bases. In the World Series loss to the New York Giants in five games he accounted for four hits against dominant New York pitching. Still adept at drawing walks, he continued to lead the AL in 1906, ‘07 and ’08, with 88, 106, and 93 respectively. While he hit only .255 in 1906, his OBP was a healthy .363. Correspondingly in 1907, Hartsel batted .280 with a league-leading .405 OBP. In 1908 his batting average was .243 but with a .371 OBP. As he reached his mid-30s in 1909 he was no longer able to play as regularly but he remained useful with a .381 OBP in 83 games. As a part-time player who helped with coaching and preparing scouting reports, he remained a significant part of the pennant-winning A’s teams in 1910 and 1911. His major league playing career ended following the latter season as he was purchased by the Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association where he finished his career. For his major league career, Hartsel batted .276 with 1336 hits that included 182 doubles, 92 triples, and 31 home runs. He scored 826 runs and compiled 341 RBIs, 247 stolen bases, a .384 OBP, and a .370 slugging percentage while drawing 837 walks, a category in which he led the AL four times. He appeared in six World Series games and hit .227 with five hits and four stolen bases. He later became active in promoting amateur baseball in Toledo and died at age 70 in 1944.
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Highlighted Years feature players who led a major league
in the following categories: batting average, home runs (with a minimum of 10),
runs batted in, or stolen bases (with a minimum of 20), pitching wins,
strikeouts, earned run average, or saves (with a minimum of 10), or have been
participants in the annual All-Star Games between the National and American
Leagues since 1933. This category will also include Misc. players who received
award votes, were contributors to teams that reached the postseason, or had
notable seasons in non-award years.
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